Shattered Galaxy Crisis
The Shattered Galaxy Crisis ran from 5.1 ABY to the end of 6 ABY, when it ended with the joint deaths of Emperor Iaius and Garen Kya, the Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side, resulting in the destruction of the Imperial Knights and the latest incarnation of the Sith Empire. Beginnings The Galactic Empire took a massive blow at the First Battle of Endor, resulting in the death of the Emperor, the breaking of the Sith and the loss of the leader of the innumerous Dark Jedi. The Empire, in short, had collapsed politically and in the dark side. Warlords seceded almost immediately, entire sectors and armadas vanishing into hostile hands. The Rebel Alliance forged ahead into the void of retreating Imperials, growing in strength while the Empire diminished. The majority of the Prophets of the Dark Side had abandoned the Empire before Endor, and several Inquisitors fled into the Pentastar Alignment. The remaining Prophets were reorganised under Supreme Prophet Garen Kya, and the remaining Inquisitors reformed under Lord Garonnin, pledging loyalty to Sate Pestage, who had taken the throne as steward. Pestage, himself a darksider, worked with the agent Blackhole to restore a shadow of darkness to the Empire's heart. It was enough to staunch the flow of the dark side, for now. The Empire shrivelled, splitting into more pieces with every passing day. Pestage was deposed by Iceheart, who had little time for the machinations of darksiders. Lumiya, the new steward of the Sith, vanished, presumed dead, and a series of fake Prophets were set up to restore religious faith in the reduced Dark Jedi. Power moved away from the dark side into Icehearts hands, and even into the fake Prophets and warlords and Moffs opposed to the darksiders. A civil war in 5 ABY between the fake Prophet-allied Moff Coalition and the Empire followed, weakening the Empire in the middle of an Alliance offensive. Then came Lord Shadowspawn. Responsible for waves of raids that distracted the Alliance during the civil war, he became more and more prominent, driving the Alliance away from the Inner Rim and restoring Imperial strength across the galaxy. The Dark Jedi rallied at his direction, leading several task forces to recapture key worlds throughout the Core and Colonies, netting more power between them. The Crisis Modulates The Battle of Mindor saw Lord Shadowspawn killed, weakening the Dark Jedi as they attempted to crystalise their power. Iceheart quickly made efforts to restore the pre-Shadowspawn status quo, which the Dark Jedi resisted. It looked as if the Empire might collapse in on itself, completely. The Alliance, devastated by the raids and warfare, geared up for a massive assault on the Empire, gathering its forces at Endor, the battered rebels drawing strength from the victories they'd had here to regather their strength. Luke Skywalker, however, departed from the military after Mindor, disgusted at how many soldiers he killed during the violence there. Heading off to search for Jedi relics despite his sister begging for assistance. The seeming abandonment of her brother placed immense strain on Leia and Han Solo's relationship, seeing Han on the verge of departing from the Alliance. The New Order The gathering of the Alliance fleet at Endor did not go unnoticed by the Imperial Fleet. Filled with the belief that the Empire might recover if the Alliance suffered a major defeat, Admiral Iaius took a habitation sphere cum Death Star from Coruscant, the latest Super Star Destroyer from Kuat, the Olympus and more than forty Star Destroyers to strike at the Alliance in 5.5 ABY. The Third Battle of Endor was a complete rout for the rebels, resulting in the capture of Admiral Ackbar and Mon Mothma, and the destruction of the Independence, as well as the complete annhilation of the fleet which had barely survived the Battle of Mindor - though the Death Star was destroyed. This devastating defeat devastated faith in the Alliance, and their control of the Expansion Region crumbled away. However, this victory did not enable the Empire to immediately counterattack. The public did fall in love with Iaius, and he shrewdly latched onto the support and deposed both Iceheart and Pestage, the old steward of the throne having returned to hedge his bets in the crisis. Drawing upon the more noble elements of the Empire and in-part the more dark, he forged a new regime, creating his own Force user group named the Imperial Knights - light siders in service of the Emperor and the Empire. The Dark Jedi, rapidly losing power, forced a split within the Empire, fleeing to Korriban under the direction of Lord Garonnin - now crowned '''Darth Sanguinis' and declaring a Sith Empire. The Supreme Prophet Kya allied with the Dark Lord, nominally, weaving a complex wave of alliances with warlords such as Harrsk, Zsinj, Delvardus, Foga Brill, Teradoc and Krennal, and securing the support of the Pentastar Alignment, forging the regime into a power to be reckoned with, securing control of portions of the Mid and Outer Rim from the Alliance and total control of the Deep Core. Smaller powers began to suffer. The Mandalorians were struck by an unknown Imperial power and scattered, both Imperial factions claiming responsibility. The Commonality declared its loyalty to the Empire, though was far removed from the mainstream Empire itself. The Hapans were entreated by all three sides, their territory located in the middle of the three powers. The Senex sectors sided with the Sith, though they too were particularly cut off from the Sith powerbase. The Hutts managed to make a statement of neutrality, securing control of the Imperial prisons on Kessel by default, taking many of the Imperial prisoners from Endor with them. The Perlemian between the Tion Cluster and Hapan Cluster found itself independent, though nobody imagined that would last long. The Alliance managed to secure its position by Leia assuming a position within the Triumvirate from Mon Calamari, and remodelling the SpecForce into an impromptu Proto Jedi Order. With little training herself, Leia could hardly teach these Jedi much, but by unifying the Force knowledge beneath her she could create Jedi Knights that rivalled the strength of the Sith and Imperial Knights. With the galaxy remodelled, the year finally reached 6 ABY, and the three powers were in a position to declare war on each other. The Shattered Galaxy Crisis The Empire, Alliance and Sith Empire found themselves in various positions. While the Empire retained the greatest amount of military strength, the Alliance had the most powerful Force users, capable of engaging a great many Imperial Knights and Sith. For the Sith, they had the largest amount of Force users, though a military relatively comparable only to the Alliance. The Empire and Sith had isolated islands of territory elsewhere in the galaxy, and it was clear how the war would at least begin. A task force invaded the Deep Core in the Battle of Byss, engaging elements of the Sith Navy. Darth Sanguinis dispatched assassins and raiders to destablise the Commonality, but dispatched his forces - headed by a clone of Grand Admiral Declann on a Feint at Coruscant to kidnap the Princess. However, the Supreme Prophet Kya had his own plans, preparing a mercenary network to strike at Garos IV, using it to secure control of the shipyards of Contruum, creating his very own Sith Navy. A skirmish between Sith and Jedi forces on Yavin 4 saw the Prophet trapped on Yavin for weeks, causing his plans to be slowed dramatically - and missing an opportunity to ambush the Alliance fleet. With the Commonality under Sith control, and the Deep Core under Imperial control, the opening phases of the war appeared complete. The Alliance Triumvirate, however, had fell into in-fighting, a rogue Captain in the fleet using a friendship with Talon Karrde to take control of portions of the Alliance Navy and strike out at Kessel, seeking to rebuild Alliance strength by recapturing the veterans of Endor. The Sith attempt to kidnap the Princess was an unmitigated disaster, Declann's fleet returning to Korriban. The surrender of the Deep Core took Harrsk and Delvardus from the Sith Empire, the two preferring independence to abandonment. Garen Kya, finally back in control of his plans, used his smugglers and mercanary force to capture Garos IV, and immediately began placing the cloaking technology on Sith warships. The double-blind cloak did not concern the new Sith Navy, the numerous Sith able to coordinate their location. Other Sith would be held in reserve to engage any particular Jedi or Imperial Knights within the enemy fleets. Endgame Shortly before Garen Kya captured Garos IV the Emperor discovered a tool to divide and destroy the Sith - the true heir to the Sith, Lumiya. She had returned to pledge her allegiance to the Emperor, and they agreed that the Princess should be 'kidnapped', placing Lumiya in a perfect position to intrigue among the Sith elite. The arrival of Lumiya pushed Garen Kya to accelerate his plans, deposing Darth Sanguinis by simply striking at the Empire. At the Battle of the Two Empires, Kya scored a major victory over the Empire, destroying several squadrons with practically no losses to his own navy. At the Battle of Cadinth the Sith forces cut across the Perlemian and moved on to strike at the Alliance at the Battle of Hast, costing the Alliance heavily - their counteroffensive completely delayed. However, heady in his victory, the Supreme Prophet revealed his identity to the galaxy, claiming the title of Darth Rem and declaring himself the new Emperor. His wife, long a Jedi within the Alliance, discovered that her husband had not died but simply fell, and travelled to confront him. At Arkania the two fought, Garen fleeing to Sarafur in insanity, Lorelei claiming the name Lomi Plo and fleeing to Dathomir to find solitude. The Sith Empire, bereft of a leader, began to unravel, helped along by Lumiya, and by the time Darth Sanguinis regained control there were few Sith remaining. Declann launched a suicidal assault on the Hapans to build momentum for a complete victory, but the Hapans defeated him in detail, capturing more than a dozen Imperial Star Destroyers from the Sith - vessels they later donated to the Alliance. With the Sith decimated militarily and in the Force, Sanguinis retreated to the Senex sector. Darth Rem, caught in insane, was caught up in the search for the Alsakan Tessent on Sarafur, getting involved with a chase led by Fenn Shysa and a motley band of spacers. Discovering the tomb of Gorog, the Sith behind the True Sith War, he latched onto the teachings of the creature, multilating himself into a Sithspawn with the use of the skills he was taught. Full of insanity - to the point that he gave his Sith Holocrons to Darth Sanguinis - Rem received information from Lumiya about the layout of the Imperial Palace, and took himself there to kill the Emperor. In the Massacre of Coruscant the Emperor and his remaining Imperial Knights were slaughtered, before Rem was killed by the Princess. For her part, Lumiya trapped the new Jedi and slaughtered them, before fleeing back into hiding as Luke returned to the Alliance - with Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar in tow. Luke had discovered their location and recovered the two leaders of the Alliance, and returned the Light to the Alliance. Status Quo Is Restored The return of Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar reunified the Alliance members, and the death of Emperor Iaius and the destruction of the Imperial Knights cut the heart from the Empire, even as the Sith Empire's heart was cut out by Darth Rem's insanity. With a lunge, the Alliance regained control of almost all of it's territories within the Core, Inner Rim and Colonies, restoring galactic balance. Iceheart secured control of the Empire once more, and began to understand that a counterattack on the Alliance could not be achieved without the Alliance being crippled internally. Beginning work on the Krytos Plague, Iceheart prepared for the Alliance to launch their invasion. Wedge Antilles reconstituted Rogue Squadron, and Admiral Ackbar took those forces and began frittering away at the Imperial Core worlds. The Princess fled into hiding, and Luke Skywalker returned to his wanderings, while Han and Leia made efforts to rebuild their relationship, understanding that Leia had became obssessed, and she began to step back from her foolishness. The balance of the galaxy was restored. Legacy The crisis remained a footnote in the greater Galactic Civil War. Simply another phase of the Imperial Civil War, and the Sith an even smaller footnote in overall Sith history. Lumiya returned to those dark worlds in Sith space, securing an apprentice, and the reborn Emperor cut off the majority of the Deep Core from the Alliance anyway - erasing history of the fools who had once controlled it as 'Sith'. The Sith Empire reformed into a New Sith Order, settling in the Senex sector under Lord Garonnin. It eventually evolved into the Dominion of Darkness circa 60 ABY and was largely behind the Force Cold War. Lomi Plo would go on to become a Dark Jedi and eventually a One Sith, her grandson becoming Darth Insipid - a name which would be remembered in the years leading upto and after the Sith-Imperial War... Timeline *Battle of Mindor *Third Battle of Endor *Occupation of Ryloth *Skirmish on Yavin 4 *Feint at Coruscant *Battle of Byss *Battle of Pakrith *Battle of Kessel *Fall of Garos IV *Battle of the Two Emperors *Battle of Cadinth *Battle of Hast *The Duel of Kya *Second Battle of Arkania *Battle of Hapes *Massacre of Coruscant